Sea-anchor.



T. S. MILLER. SEAANGHOR. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 5,1907.

" Patented Dec. 26, 1911.

rmrran s'ra'rns Parana UFFECE.

THOMAS SPENCER MILLER, OF SOUTH ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

SEA-ANCHOR.

Application filed. February 5, 1907.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS SPENCER MILLER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of South Orange, in the county of Essex and Stateof New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSea-Anchors, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to sea anchors and in this application Ihave shown and described, by way of illustration, a form of sea anchorwhich is especially adapted for use in connection with coaling ships atsea. This anchor possesses certain advantages over all other forms ofsea anchors with which I am acquainted, as will be later explained, andit may be used for any purpose where a sea anchor is desirable orrequired.

The invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangementof parts set forth in and falling within the scope of the appendedclaims.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an anchor embodying my invention; Fig.2 is a view of one of the planes of the anchor and with such viewshowing one manner of securing the plane to the side ropes; Fig. 3 is aperspective view of a form of frame used in connection with the planesof the anchor; Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view taken at the line 4, tof Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a portion of one of the planesof the anchor showing the method of constructing the same.

It is one of the purposes of my invention to construct an anchor whichwill possess certain desired and advantageous features, that is to say,an anchor which will pull straight and steady, an anchor which will notdive, broach or yaw, an anchor which is simple and easy to construct,and which will be of comparatively light weight and occupy but littlespace when stowed away.

I have found, after many experiments, that it is desirable in practiceto have five or more planesfor this reasona single plane towed throughthe water is disposed to move at right angles to the direction oftow-that is to say, it might move to the right or left, called yawing;it might move upward out of the way, called broaching; or it might movedownward, called diving. Two in tandem may be disposed to move inopposite directions and will pull more steadily. With four in tandem,properly spaced,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 26, 1911.

Serial No. 355,861.

a steady uniform pull may be obtained, but this presents practicaldifliculties and hence, as above stated, after many experiments, fivehas been selected as the desired minimum number of planes to beemployed.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, it will be seen that I have shownby way of illustration an anchor which may be termed multi-plane, thatis to say, an anchor which consists of a series of planes, preferablysquares, suitably spaced apart and secured to suitable side connectingropes.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail and especially toFig. 1, A, A, A A and A are planes or squares connected at their cornersto longitudinal side ropes 5, of whichI have shown four in number. Onemanner of connecting the plane to the rope is shown in detail in Fig. 4.In such instance, the side rope 5, passes along outside of the frame andthe plane is connected thereto by the short rope 6, looped through theeye 7, in the corner of the plane, and spliced at the point 8 to therope 5. The clamp 9 of any suitable construction clamps the two ropestogether. Each plane is preferably formed of a suitably shaped frame 10,and in the present instance such frameis shown as being square, and suchframe is covered with material such as canvas as shown at 11. Theconstruction of the frame and the manner of securing the can vas theretois shown in detail in Fig. 5, the body of such frame is preferablyformed of small cables 10 and the facing 11 of the canvas is doubledaround the small ropes or cables. A binding 10 is then stitched aroundthe edge as is clearly shown in said Fig. 5. The first and last planesof the anchor are preferably formed with a cross brace B of suitableconstruction having grooves Z) in the ends thereof for the passage andsupport of the side lines or ropes 5, and the intermediate planes areeach preferably provided with a small hole or opening 12 in the centerthereof. The upper part of each of the squares is also provided withbodies of cork or its equivalent, such as is shown at 13 for the purposeof further in creasing the buoyant properties of the anchor and anysuitable material may be used, as I do not confine myself in the leastnor do I limit myself to the said described man ner of construction ofthe anchor nor any particular claim thereof.

At the front of the anchor said lines converge to a common eye 13*,designed to be hooked to the swivel 14 which is attached to the end ofthe tow line 15. At the rear of the anchor the two lines 16, 16 areconnected by a swivel 17 to the tripping line 18, so that by thisconstruction if the tripping line should for any reason revolve, it maydo so freely without fouling the sea anchor. I have found that an anchoras hereinbefore described, having preferably five or more planes, may betowed at a rapid rate of speed without a disposition to dive, broach oryaw and that the pull upon the same is steady and uniform. Each planemay be detached from the side lines by removing the clamp thereon andthe four corner ropes are then taken up and the whole device may bestored in a very small space.

While I have herein shown and described one preferred embodiment of myinvention, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to thedetails of construction herein recited as modification and variation maybe made without departing from the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. A sea anchor, comprising a series of planes detachably connected attheir corners to continuous common lines converging at a common pointand connected to a swivel member, a trip line, and a second swivelmember connecting the trip line and the anchor.

2. A sea anchor, comprising a series of planes connected about theirperiphery to continuous lines converging at a common point and connectedto a swivel member, a trip line, and a second swivel member connectingthe trip line and the anchor.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS SPENCER MILLER.

Witnesses:

LOUIS G. RUecLEs, R. B. CAVANAGH.

copies of this patent may' be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

